Jorge Luis Borges - Labyrinths II

"An example of the King's New Clothes ?
I have read and enjoyed a wide variety of literature in my lifetime, but never before have I found such rubbish masquerading as itellectual work."


"Borges was an old man when he wrote these stories but why do they all have to be told by old men? It is a bit off-putting for this reader who is not an old man."


"And yet more elitist filth in print
I was recommended Borges' works by one of his innumerable over-educated sycophants and I will never forget the tremendous time I wasted attempting to grasp the supposed value of his life's work (when I should have been writing my dissertation). Each time I read one of his pedantic, mediocre peices of short fiction, I was convinced by these elite book review troglodytes that I would like other examples of his work if I continued reading since 'all of his stories are so unique.' ... The ideas were transperant, the language boring in the extreme. His poetry is trite. Who needs this? Borges reads like a petulant graduate student at University of Chicago who failed repeatedly to get his/her short fiction published in _The Atlantic Monthly_ ... Borges merely litters his works with elite literary references and a kind of faculty cocktail party wit to make it more palatable to the kind of people who never step foot out of Manhattan or Cambridge. If you're this kind of pompous fellow, you'll want to sleep every night with a portrait of Luis by your side and a series of mirrors, as it were, slowly attempting to seek some kind of trans-substantiation with this benighted old librarian. If you're the kind of person who prefers reading about interesting characters, enjoying nuanced use of language, and grasping subtle, daring ideas that transcend purile academic banter, run far, far away from Jorge Luis Borges ... 30min spent on one of his short stories gets you the drift of his entire body of work, and that's about as much attention as he deserves."


"Bad Boring SF
This book is filled with short stories of bad boring science fiction. References, complete with page numbers, to non existent books only add to the tedium"


"One of his logic traps claims that to get from one point to another, you have to get to a point halfway between them, because you can divide things in half forever, you never reach your destination. This seems clever at first, but eventually you realize that they have no effect on how you live your life ... This isn't great literature, it is a collection of logic puzzles. Save your money and buy a book of Sudoku."